Youth Life Skills Curriculum

Please visit our CRS webpage for attachments and scope of work https://www.crs.org/about/bid-opportunity.

CRS is committed to Positive Youth Development, a programmatic approach that engages youth along with their families, communities, and governments so they can reach their full potential. One of the key areas of this approach is skills development for young people, including life skills which help young people develop agency, cope with challenges and leverage opportunities they face in their lives. So, to most effectively support the development of these skills, CRS aims to deepen its work related to life skills and ensure that all young people who take part in programs supported by CRS have the opportunity to acquire and practice them. Hence, CRS seeks to create an agency wide life skills curriculum for effectively developing the life skills of young people across its programs. The development of the curriculum will be done in three phases. The first phase will be the creation of a beta version of the curriculum that is ready for testing. The second phase will focus on piloting and assessing the curriculum with young people in selected countries. The last phase will consist of revising the curriculum based on the results of the pilot, resulting in an improved version of the curriculum that is ready for use across all CRS youth programs. This present consultancy is for phase one of the life skills curriculum development process.

II. Objective
The objective of this consultancy is to develop a beta version of a life skills curriculum to be delivered to young people aged 15-29 years who participate in CRS youth programs across the world.
The life skills curriculum should draw on existing life skills curricula used by CRS programs, reflect the standards and best practices for life skills development for youth, and be modular and adaptable to the diverse contexts where CRS supports youth programs.

III. Work to Be Accomplished
1. Develop a draft work plan for the deliverables in the scope of work (see below) that includes deadlines for submitting drafts, receiving CRS’ feedback and submitting final versions.
2. Review existing life skills curricula being used by CRS programs and findings from the life skills needs assessment carried out by the CRS Youth Team to determine any information gaps.
3. Conduct virtual key informant interviews with relevant CRS staff to gather input on the identified gaps.
4. Submit a report that summarizes and analyzes the needs identified through the review of the curricula used by CRS programs, the life skills needs assessment, and the virtual key informant interviews and/or workshop with relevant CRS staff.
5. Draft a curriculum plan that describes the purpose, objectives, audience, instructional materials, instructional methods, instructional media, evaluation strategy, and proposed list of units and lessons.
6. Organize and facilitate a virtual workshop with relevant CRS staff to get feedback on draft curriculum plan.
7. Submit a revised curriculum plan that incorporates feedback from the virtual workshop.
8. Develop the beta version of the life skills curriculum package: curriculum manual (including facilitator’s guide), participant’s guide, and accompanying instructional materials. The following steps will guide the development process:
i. Lesson review by unit.
ii. Incorporation of CRS’ feedback and submission of revised units.
iii. Review of the facilitator’s guide, participants’ guide and accompanying instructional materials.
iv. Incorporation of CRS’ feedback and submission of revised lessons, guides and instructional materials.
9. Organize and facilitate virtual workshops with relevant CRS staff to gather feedback on draft curriculum manual, participants’ guide and accompanying instructional materials of the beta version.
10. Finalize the beta version of life skills curriculum package based on feedback.
The Consultant and CRS Youth team will have periodic meetings throughout the consultancy to align expectations and ensure that the objective and deadlines are met.